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Why a German Classic Prize?

Jonathan Gaisman

The Oxford German Network is grateful to Jonathan Gaisman, whose generous donation has made this prize possible. Now a distinguished QC, Jonathan Gaisman first encountered the German language as a schoolboy, and this sparked an enthusiasm for German literature that has stayed with him ever since. Click here to read his account of how he was inspired by German literature as a schoolboy and as a university student.

To find out more about Jonathan Gaisman and his interest in German, click here for a longer interview with him. He there also talks about his fascination with Faust, Part I, the German Classic by Goethe which we featured in 2017.

German Classic Prize 2017/18: Inaugural Prize-Giving

The grand prize ceremony for the first round of the essay competition, 'A German Classic', was held in the Bodleian Library's Blackwell Hall in Oxford on 19th June 2018. At the ceremony, Jonathan Gaisman gave a speech to introduce the prize and outlined its aims, by highlighting how important it is to engage with German literature - and how fun that can be. For more information about the prize ceremony, including comments from the prize-winners, see here.

Interested in Goethe's Faust or Schiller's Maria Stuart? Click here for details and further resources from the past two rounds of the German Classic competition. Results of the competition from 2017 and 2018 are available here and here.

German Classics Prize

A German Classic: E.T.A. Hoffmann's 'Der Sandmann'

An Essay Prize for Sixth-Formers

1st Prize: £500 2nd Prize: £300 3rd Prize: £100

Deadline: Monday 2 September 2019, 12 noon

We are delighted to announce the launch of the third round of 'A German Classic' – our essay competition for sixth-form students. This year we would like to invite you to read with us E.T.A. Hoffmann's 'Der Sandmann' (1816) – one of the most captivating short stories in German literature and a masterpiece of Gothic fiction. Hoffmann's eerie and mysterious tale centres on a young, impressionable student called Nathanael, who becomes convinced that he is pursued by a shadowy figure called Coppelius. Filled with Doppelgänger, mechanical dolls, alchemistic experiments, inexplicable fires, uncanny optical toys, and misaddressed letters, 'Der Sandmann' explores the power of the imagination as it erupts into a dark obsession. We have put together a free study pack, including a set of multimedia materials, that will help you delve into this fascinating text. We will guide you through topics ranging from the best party tricks around 1800 to Sigmund Freud's revolutionary theories about the human psyche to a cult film made in 1950s Britain which testifies to the enduring cultural appeal of Hoffmann's stories.

For all details about eligibility, study packs, essay questions, submission, judging criteria, and more, see here.

We encourage all students interested in entering the competition to email their UK correspondence address to the Prize Coordinator (karolina.watroba@merton.ox.ac.uk) by 12 noon on 10 June to receive a free study pack.

Sommers Weltliteratur to go: this is a popular German YouTube channel that retells famous books in short videos using action figures. Don't worry if you can't even begin to keep up with Michael Sommer's German - he speaks extraordinarily fast and uses slang and specialised allusions. But you should be able to work out who the Playmobil gigures are!